insignificant thoughts - Latest Comments in AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

NYgirl — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 06:17:55 -0000

The same thing happened with my sister when she tried to cancel AOL. Though she had to wait a long time to get through, the experience wasn't as traumatic as Vinny's.

Personally, despite the obvious issues that many people have had or are still having with AOL, there is still a soft spot in my heart for them. Their service was integral to my introduction to the 'net and I will always be grateful to them for that. Besides, they have a great broadband, cable service section, Time Warner Cable, that I loved. I had to cancel it when I moved from one city to another that didn't offer it. And believe me, the service was cancelled in a matter of seconds. All we had to do was return the cable box and the modem.

If AOL would just start innovating again and behaving like Time Warner, it would go a long way of preventing people from leaving en masse.

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

the after — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 22:30:14 -0000

I am sorry for the employee. It is not his fault I am sure. He has been drilled to act like this on the phone. You know he is probably just trying to make his month to cover his living costs. I think the real "bad guy" here is the rush for more money (after the dial up > the broad band > the wider broader band > the gazillion GBs nano tech tube band > etc) that is sometimes eluding the human interaction factor... let's be human and one initiative would be to help the guy who is now without a job. I completely understand Vincent's way of doing in this case but was the guy on the other side of the line acting on his own or with a computer scenario to take care of such situation with a specific attitude??? just asking. cheers

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

kenny — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 01:24:36 -0000

Would you please post Nicholas Graham's email address and physical address and his phone number? I will need to cancel in a month or two and would like to contact him to cancel my account.

kenny

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

James Conner — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 21:17:51 -0000

I canceled my AOL account almost ten years ago -- with difficulty, although not with as much difficulty as V.F. encountered. Then, for several years, I received calls from AOL sales reps trying to get me to rejoin. And I still receive AOL's damned CDs. It would not surprise me if an AOL sales rep showed up at my front door.

AOL employs these sleezy tactics because they're profitable -- and because the MBA types behind them suffer no penalty worth calling a penalty. Are they embarrassed for a moment? Sure. But then the mass news media go onto another story and the money keeps rolling in. Why stop eating when the clover is so sweet and the public is looking at something else?

Only legislation that could put wayward executives in the slammer will put a stop to AOL's transgressions (which are not unique).

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Fernando Gonzales — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 15:14:29 -0000

Wow... I found your audio recording at the ebaum site and I must say that was quite a trip. I remember cancelling my aol sometime in 2001 and the representative that was "helping me" said something like:

"you don't want to cancel your account." I thought cancelling a bloody subcription was going to be easy but I think the whole charade lasted like 40 minutes (w/ waiting of course)... I argued how their software was flawed and now that I was living the country and I wont be needing the i.s.p...

I think the letter of apology is really just for this recording that surfaced everywhere. And I'm sure someone at AOL must be reading this... CHANGE YOUR CUSTOMER approach!!! That type of Customer approach is almost like trying to get a transaction done at a mediocre University!! Why the hassle and the aggrevation?

Well.. nice post. I hope others Record their cases as well!

cheers

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

AOL SUCKS!!!!!!!! — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 06:34:15 -0000

Vinny SUCKS, you are truley a DICK!!!!! You are one to talk about someone not having a life! You must have a similar job to be defending them.(or no job at all and you have nothing better to do.)

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Vinny SUCKS — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 21:33:45 -0000

I think this whole story is nonsense. What loser records phone calls. This guy obviously has no life. He just wanted to get publicity for this stupid site of his. Ok the aol guy may have been a little rude but this guy vinny was ignorant to him right off the bat. This poor guy from aol is just trying to do his job. Do you think he really wants to hear people like vinny all day. I would have just hung up on him and made him call back again. Im sure the AOL company makes employees like JON try and get you to stay with AOL. I think Vinny was a real prick to this guy and now he lost his job. Just think when Jon got home and told his wife and kids that he was fired because some little nerdy guy gave him an attitude while trying to cancel his account, and he was simply just following compnay policy by trying to get the customer to stay with Aol. That is just screwed up. To Vinny I say you suck for probbally ruining some guys life. GOOD JOB

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Vera Lynn — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 06:51:58 -0000

I had the same experience, I wound up getting like 6 months free, every time I called to cancel they would add a free month. :roll: In my situation, I needed more then one computer user to be online at the same time. With one dial up connection, that wasnt possible. They just couldnt understand that and would argue with me every time I called.
Thanks for having the guts to tape your conversations. Kudos to you!!!
Vera Lynn
Kentucky

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Lucy — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 11:55:47 -0000

Ok, an advice to all future AOL cancellers: start the conversation with a stern:
1. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THIS CONVERSATION IS BEING TAPED AND MIGHT BE USED IN THE FUTURE FOR LEGAL PURPOSES. This makes taping legally admissible.
2. Movement I always wanted to start, and now is the time: any time you see those piles of AOL CD's anywhere - CVS next to the cash register, ANYWHERE!!!! take the entire box (nobody will stop you!) and JOYFULLY DESTROY. Or at least render unusable by some kid desperate to get onto the net. AOL is environmentally irresponsible with all those little metal boxes, and plastic boxes containing billions and billions of their malicious CD's...

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Roni — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 10:10:42 -0000

Kudos to you Vinny! You are helping to expose what is wrong with Customer Service today; companies that can't or won't listen to the consumer. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like it would be so much better to end a contract or service on friendly terms (with the possibility of a return in the future, or at the very least, the consumer recommending their friends to said service)than to end on very bad terms with a possible lawsuit in the works. It boils down to treating people the way you want to be treated. And in dealing with the public, you've got to treat them with respect. If you have an irate customer, follow the proper channels, don't get ugly or irate with them in return. It gets you nowhere but fired in the end.

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

S.B. — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 09:40:53 -0000

Okay, why are people siding with "Jon"? Did you listen to the same tape we did? Clearly, Vincent was polite with the guy, asking him to cancel his account. Jon kept going on and on trying to get him to stay on, and obviously not listening. Why is it that companies like this claim to have their customers' best interest at heart, but then do not listen to the customers? Do they really care for their customers? Vincent did not want to continue his AOL account, why would Jon continue to persuade him when at least 3 times (and possibly more) Vincent said no. Are you trained to go deaf on a customer? It seems like the only time we can get companies like this to listen is when we raise our voices or get ugly with them. Learn to take no for an answer and you won't have this problem. I know these companies (telemarketers,etc)are trying to keep customers, but honestly, harassing the very people who help to keep your company going by giving you their money is not the way to go. Jon was rude and obnoxious and he deserved what he got, plain and simple. If you are going to work in customer service, then learn how to do it the correct way; don't belittle a customer when he/she is trying to end a service. Remember, the customer is ALWAYS right, or do they teach that anymore?

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Teri — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 10:14:55 -0000

Brenda, excellent link, i site it also...everytime an AOL employee posts their ridiculous spin (you know AOL higherups encourage them to post there opinion about the company...hoping people might read it and say..."oh...there not so bad" )

Which is why I take great pleasure in posting the fact that AOL loses every class action suit brought against them.

Another great site.. http://www.consumersearch.com/www/internet/isp/index.html
Not only do they list the best ISP, they go out of their way (towards the bottom of the page) to talk about the failings of AOL...

And I quote
"America Online (AOL) is the most popular ISP in the United States. AOL claims 22.1% of the dial-up ISP market (almost 20.8 million users), yet AOL (*est. $24 per month for dial-up) receives lower scores in customer surveys on almost every ISP performance measure, including reliability, support and overall satisfaction. Despite the popularity of AOL, ISP reviews say it's far from the best Internet service provider. In another review, PC World's survey also reveals that AOL Internet service has the fewest happy customers. Only 39% of AOL users say they're satisfied with the overall service, the lowest score of all ISPs. Users report trouble with installation, connection and support."

And one of my personal favorites, PC world rated AOL as " THE #1 WORST TECH PRODUCT EVER"

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,125772,pg,2,00.asp

There you go AOL, dispute that, please.

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

John Mister — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 09:38:50 -0000

You know, four years ago I took my car to a mechanic (Pep Boys) and they tampered with my car and told me I needed some additional work. I went to three other name brand places and they did the same. I don't have a car anymore. THEY ALL DO THE SAME THING. I had the same experience with AOL. I thought it was a nightmare. This is their training and it is not to let you go. They only have a zero tolerance when they get caught. They are prime for a class action. I don't have an Internet server anymore.

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Ron Malstaff — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 08:49:12 -0000

Listening to your telephone call with AOL brought back many memories. Three years ago, I also tried to cancel my account and talked with a lady who exhibited a similar attitude. What struck me the most was the fact that the comments and questions made during your call were verbatim to those that I received.

Since so many people have previously complained about problems with AOL, it is obvious that your experience was not a rare occurance, but rather the standard that AOL uses to train their employees. I saw the original interview you conducted with the network, and what concerns me is the fact that at the end of the segment, the interviewer states that AOL has apologized for the experience and has terminated the employee that was at fault. This gives the impression that the problem has been successfully addressed and no further incidents will occur.I believe that this is far from the case.

I would like to see a follow up segment three months from now where someone tries to cancel their AOL account and see if anything has truly changed. Of course, the phone call would be taped, so there would be no debate as to what was really said during the discussion.

Perhaps someone reading these comments will offer to test AOLs commitment to "zero tolerence to customer care incidents".

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Brenda — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 00:23:13 -0000

AOL Embarrassed by CNBC Report On Its Business Practices

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/06/aol_cnbc.html

June 21, 2006

AOL/America Online

â€šÃ„Â¢ AOL Embarrassed by CNBC Report On Its Business Practices
â€šÃ„Â¢ E-Mail Taxation Without Representation
â€šÃ„Â¢ AOL, Yahoo Planning Postage Charges for Email
â€šÃ„Â¢ AOL Settles With NY, Agrees to Clean Up Cancellation Process
â€šÃ„Â¢ Ohio Settles Lawsuit With AOL
â€šÃ„Â¢ AOL Abandons Broadband
â€šÃ„Â¢ Ohio Latest to Sue AOL
â€šÃ„Â¢ AOL Loses 2 Million Clients, Faces Subpoenas
â€šÃ„Â¢ Class Action Accuses AOL of Double-Billing Scheme
â€šÃ„Â¢ AOL Offers to Settle Federal Charges
---
Consumer Complaints
â€šÃ„Â¢ Cancellation Difficulties
â€šÃ„Â¢ Double-billing
â€šÃ„Â¢ "Free" Hours
â€šÃ„Â¢ Unauthorized Charges
â€šÃ„Â¢ AOL Shop-Direct Complaints

Consumers are dropping AOL by the thousands. More than 800,000 people in the last quarter turned off the online service provider. But for many who would like to be former subscribers, AOL is becoming the pest that refuses to go away, even after repeatedly being told it is no longer wanted or needed.

Terri of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, is one of nearly 4,000 consumers who have written to ConsumerAffairs.Com in recent years about problems with AOL.

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Brenda — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 00:16:45 -0000

I have not cancelled my aol membership yet primarily because my children seem to find it easy to use since we have had aol for about 8 years.

However, I have my share of complaints about aol. Currently, I have a dsl connection yet in May of 2006 (last month) I was billed not only for my dsl but for dial-up as well! The aol customer service rep told me that the $23.60 would be put back into my account. The dsl charge goes on my phone bill and aol is only suppose to charge me $8.95 monthly.

Well, here we are now it is June 25, 2006 and I have not been credited for the $23.60. I contacted an aol rep online tonight only to have her/him tell me that one of the users on my account (my 15 year old to be precise) activated a communication surcharge by using my aol account from somewhere out of the country or by dialing in on a 1-800 or 1-888 number! Geez, I wonder why the last CSR didn't know this?! My daughter dosn't even have a passport and isn't dialing in! Where do these CSRs get this crap? Naturally, I objected to the claims!

Finally, the CSR tells me that they would be glad to offer me a buy down to be credited to my account at the rate of $8.95 monthly! Since they just took more money out of my account for this billing cycle...that means it would be almost 4 months before I got my money's worth. Hmmm, I guess AOL thinks that customers to know about the Time Value of Money.

Lastly before blowing my lid, I suggested that "3:13:03 AM-I WOULD GLADLY ACCEPT FULL REIMBURSEMENT TO MY BANK ACCOUNT."
The CSR AGREED...DO YOU BELIEVE IT? "3:13:55 AMMHI HaidsI have now submitted the request for a $23.60 cash credit to be reviewed for approval. Please visit us again after 24 hours to confirm the status of the credit request. 3:14:05 AMMHI HaidsA cash credit is a refund for charges made on this account that gets sent automatically to the current payment method you use for your AOLÂ¬Ã† Account."

Now I have to check my billing info in 24 hours to see if they credited me or if I need to call them up and fight some more.

This was only one incidence with aol. One of my biggest peeves was when they went from charing me $17.95 for dial-up last August to $23.90 without notifying me. They said my contract for $17.95 had expired! Since when? The $17.95 deal was offered in lieu of me cancelling my long standing membership because I could get a better rate elsewhere...Now they wanted to sneak in and charge me more than I had ever paid for aol. However, they guaranteed me that nothing would change on my account...unlimited use, more than one user signed on at the same time...etc. This was a LIE!! The $17.95 did not allow my daughter to sign on to AOL in college and talk to me while I was signed on to the account as well! All aol did was say, "Oh, I'm sorry that you were misinformed." They didn't offer me squat for the inconvenience of misleading me into a limited service 1 year contract!

When I first joined aol it was only $21.95 monthly and that is what I had paid until I threatened to cancel my membership. To make a long story short, it took several months for them to credit me correctly and in the midst I upgraded to DSL and pay only a total of $17.95.

Watch your billing activity and call them up when your current contract is coming on its 1 year anniversary. Aol truly does not care if you have been a valued member or not!

If you do want out of AOL, simply notify your bank or other financial institution and tell them to not accept automatic withdrawls from aol!! If aol can't get any money from you, they will cancel your account.

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Bill — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 00:12:39 -0000

I hope all loyal AOL employees will ask themselves this question:

Why is retention (and extensive training in retention methods) even necessary?

Note that many businesses have neither retention departments nor retention training. They don't need such a thing. Instead, retention of customers, in those businesses, comes from customer satisfaction. Retention of customers is a natural outcome of having a quality product or service sold at a fair price.

I'm fortunate to work for a company that fits this description. If one of our customers happens to do the equivalent of a "cancellation" (quits using us), we completely trust them and respect them and would never, ever, ever try to "talk them out of it" -- it would be intrinsically rude to do so. They need what they need. It's not appropriate for us to second-guess them.

By contrast: How many hundreds of thousands of people have AOL second-guessed, and how many hundreds of thousands of us have resented it?

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Barb — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 22:17:46 -0000

I would dearly love to sue AOL for the hell they put me through when I discontinued service with them. I tell everyone I can not to sign up with them.

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

aol fun — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 21:23:42 -0000

We all should be taping our conversation calls with AOL CSRs. Infact, I'm going to build that in cell phones and then immediately post that to a blog website. So the next website will have taped CSR calls with AOL.

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Teri — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 21:07:44 -0000

to: loyal aol employee for 5 years,

everytime I read one of AOL employees pathetic spin attempts, I feel the obligation to point out that AOL has been sued for (and Lost) their horrid Customer Service practices.

"AOL SETTLES WITH NY, AGREES TO CLEAN UP CANCELLATION PROCESS

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/ny_aol.html

Feel free to check out the numerous other articles on this page about all of the other lawsuits against AOL...

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

theemysteriousnanojath — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 20:35:02 -0000

I've had a couple of torrid moments with phone reps... partly I think this incident and the AOL official response demonstrates a simple and ubiquitous reality in business: the formal policies are at direct odds with the demanded results. No business is going to demand in their formal policies that managers browbeat hourly employees into working unpaid overtime, but it happens all the time and the managers are not just bastards, they are getting pressured to get more work done than the employee hours they are allowed. Not that that excuses anything. But I also think that its the luck of the draw: once in a while you are going to get that employee who is ready to snap.

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Sue Taylor — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 18:57:08 -0000

About a month ago, I also tried to termiate my relationship with AOL. My husband overheard my conversation and was quite amused becasue I said,"We've had a long run and I've gone high speed cable. Our relationship is finished." I believe that the AOL employee's name was Karen. She be intimidating by saying that I would get all kinds of viruses and that I could have gone high speed with them for less. I told her that AOL was too juvenile for me. Well, it's a done deal and I haven't looked back on my 8 year relationship with them until now when I had an opportunity to vent! I almost felt like I needed to get a divorce attorney on the phone!

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

yep, aol sucks — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 18:37:28 -0000

Quoted by John Cody:

I too recorded the phone conversation of closing my AOL account from last july (2005) but just never â€šÃ„Ãºlet it outâ€šÃ„Ã¹ on the chance of legality. But, it seems things went fine for you, so here is my recording for some additional funâ€šÃ„Â¶

http://media.putfile.com/Trying-to-Can-AOL-705

hahahaha! Thanks for posting that, man. I think our friend Vinny here just opened a Pandora's Box with the cancel-AOL recording. Good on both of you. I hope everyone starts doing this to keep crooked businesses in line. They have absolutely no right to harrass customers and stress them out like that.

I can only imagine how many of our elderly folk are being ripped off every day due to such invasive and high-pressure tactics by corrupt businesses.

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Loyal AOL employee for 5 Years — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 16:36:25 -0000

I would agree that John, and the quotations are not needed, they don't have fake names there, they are not collectors, was out of line with the way he handle the questions. But it is the job of the people that you talk to when you call to cancel to attempt to retain you as a customer. But, if Vince would have only been a pleasant person and let John do what he was paid to do then the call would have been over in the same amount of time.

As far as the rubbish that people have on here that AOL reps are trained to convince the family of the deceased to keep the account, is way off base. Company policy is to only offer things to the family of the deceased if the family member requests to keep it, then they have to change everything over to their name and call back to get the right plan and stuff that they need. It is AGAINST AOL's policy to go out and ask someone to keep the deceased persons account. If one does so, they will no longer be employed if it is found.

As far as people not getting their accounts canceled, sure there are a few bad apples out there. But 90 percent of the problem comes from people just not listening, or not reading the confirmation letters that come to them. Everyone wants to pass the responsibility buck to AOL, when they have a part to play in it too. It's always easier to blame someone else for something that happens. I can't tell you how many times that I have talked to the same person that I had previously talked to and they said so many things that didn't happen in the conversations, I am a meticulous note taker so I left information throughout the conversation in member accounts.

Fact is, people need to pay attention to the events that happen around them, especially when it can impact them financially. People consistently would accept offers, and call back claiming that they never did it. Or set up a free trial and call AOL crooks cause they didn't read the terms of the free trial that states you have to cancel the account before the end of the free trial if you wish to not be billed. Because they failed to do that, they get billed and it is AOL's fault in their eyes due to their own ignorance. Or even now, people sign up for a 90 day risk free trial and rather than read what they agree to, they just assume it is 90 days free, when the terms of the trial tell you that you are going to be bill from day one then if you are not satisifed, you can cancel and receive a refund for regular monthly fees as long as you cancel before day 90 and request the refund.

AOL, as well as any company is certainly not flawless, but they do not train their people to be rude, but actually demand that their CSR's put up with being called everything but their name, every ignorant name, cuss word has been spouted to me and not once did I ever say anything to a customer, due to the customer I have a job. They fire people for rudeness, placing someone on hold when they know that they can't save the account, or not canceling an account when the member walked away thinking that it was.

Plain and simple, let the person you talk to have their say with you, you can still cancel, but you don't have to be a jerk about it. You get more by being kind than being rude. The saves folks are required to make saves attempts (retention attempts) on every call, just as any other company would require, it's dumb for a company not to do that. Let the offer happen, don't start demanding and being rude to the consultant on the phones, it makes our lives so much easier and will make your cancellation so much easier. A little common sense goes a long way people.

Loyal AOL employee.

Re: AOL Apologizes, Officially.

Glen F — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 13:44:30 -0000

1) Jenn says leave registered mail to AOL. I've already posted that I did that 2 years ago after multiple calls failed and STILL had to cancel my credit card number to get the charge to stop.
2) "legally bound" to give a good reason? bull hockey! customer has a legal right to cancel AT ANYTIME FOR ANY REASON, if there's no contracted time obligations, ergo a person signed up for a years service at a discounted rate and has 3 months left.
3) I worked at a different ISP for a while on customer service. They had cue sheets for most every situation, even when a customer cancells the account. The goal is to find out why and see if you can retain the customer. AOL goes about this in a very obsessive fashion though.

I do believe the one that was fired or let go or whatever was scapegoated.